ose who doubt
its value may consult the _Grand dictionnaire historique_, and the
_Biographie universelle_. As one hundred and sixty persons are noticed in
the work, brevity of annotation is very desirable. It would require much
research. The manuscript notes of sir William Musgrave would, however, be
very serviceable--more so, I conceive, than the printed notes of M. Horace
Walpole.

As the indications of a projected re-impression may be fallacious, I shall
conclude with a word of advice to inexperienced collectors. Avoid the
_jolie edition_ printed at Paris by F. A. Didot, _par ordre de monseigneur
le comte d'Artois_, in 1781. It is the very worst specimen of editorship.
Avoid also the London edition of 1792. The preface is a piratical
pasticcio; the verbose notes are from the most accessible books; the
portraits, very unequal in point of execution, I believe to be chiefly
copies of prints--not _d'apres des tableaux originaux_. The most desirable
editions are, 1. The edition of 1760; 2. That of 1772, as a _curiosity_; 3.
That edited by M. Renouard, Paris, 1812, 18^o. 2 vols.; 4. That edited by
M. Renouard in 1812, 8^o. with eight portraits. The latter edition forms
part of the _Oeuvres du comte Antoine Hamilton_ in 3 vols. It seldom occurs
for sale.

BOLTON CORNEY.

* * * * *

THE "ANCREN RIWLE."

The publication of this valuable semi-Saxon or Early English treatise on
the duties of monastic life, recently put forth by the Camden Society,
under the editorship of the Rev. James Morton, is extremely acceptable, and
both the Society and the editor deserve the cordial thanks of all who are
interested in the history of our language. As one much interested in the
subject, and who many years since entertained the design now so ably
executed by Mr. Morton, I may perhaps be allowed to offer a few remarks on
the work itself, and on the manuscripts which contain it. Mr. Morton is
unquestionably right in his statement that the Latin MS. in Magdalen
College, Oxford, No. 67., is only an abridged translation of the original
vernacular text. Twenty-three years ago I had access to the same MS. by
permission of the Rev. Dr. Routh, the President of Magdalen College, and
after reading and making extracts from it[1], I came to the same conclusion
as Mr. Morton. It hardly admits, I think, of a doubt; for even without the
internal evidence furnished by the Latin copy, the age of the manuscripts
containing